Taveras' Middling Poll Numbers

A new poll out of Brown's Taubman Center reinforces an ironclad rule of politics: it's the economy.

Providence Mayor Angel Taveras has received glowing press for attacking the city's budget woes head-on. And that has certainly insulated him, to some degree, from the slings and arrows of economic misfortune. But he still gets middling reviews from voters.

This poll is a bit unique in that it focuses on Providence voters alone. Most Brown polls - including a March survey that put Taveras' approval ratings at 52-32, making him the most popular politician in Rhode Island - tap a statewide sample.

That March survey may have captured some of the more conservative sentiment elsewhere in the state - the sort of voters who would be impressed with Taveras' tough-on-the-budget approach.